The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1887-05-06


can find, and in no other way will be-
find so great profit. The old Scotch
proverb, s'Many mickles make a muck
le," is true on the farm. The ''by-pro-
ducts" of the farm are many and valua-
BILE, and the path to prosperity must
wind through the orchard. past the poul.
try-yard, along the border of the gar
den and truck patch, near the pig sly
and the sheep-fold, and out to the pas
ture and sugar bush.
1t makes a worldsof difference wheth-
err or not these small sources of supply
for home wants and of income are
watched and utilized, and there seems
to be a double value to the money OBJ
tanned from th0m, for there is money
saved by abpadantly supplying home
wants and sore bills will be greatly re-
duced or entirely wanting. and then
the sale of the surplus will put money
into the pocket. The neglect of these
things is largely a matter of habit,
and partly from the want of a little
head-work and a lack of appreciation
of their value. 1t would be an excel
lent thing if every farmer would do
just what the men at the head of our
government do at the beginning of
each year-that is, make a careful es-
innate of the money needed for the en-
suing year, and of the revenues of the
farm, and then compare them and see
whether the revenues are likely to ex-
coed the expenses. If the matter looks
doubtful, either you must plan to re-
duce expenses or to increase the rev
enues, or what is better, to do both.
1 think anyone will work and manage
better when they know what results
they are striving after, than when
working at haphaz ard. To have peace
of mind, one should live within his in
come, but if he has only a vague idea
of what that income is likely to be, he
will not know how to adjust his expen-
ditures.
In my own experience it has been the
little things that paid me best. be-
gan farming without capital, bought a
farm IN credit and borrowed $1,000 at
10 per cent. interest to put up buildings
on it (for / bought bare fand), and look
ing back now / do not see how it would
have been possible for me to have ever
supported my large family and paid
my debts, had l neglected the little
things. But from the very start there
was always an abundance Of eggs,
poultry, butter, milk, cream, fruit, md
vegetables for the family, and such a
surplus to sell that store bills were
rarely allowed to run, and as q con-
sequence the money crops-wheat and
~hogs-could be applied to paying the
debt. and when the day of deliYerance
came and l could, like Longfellow's
blacksmith, '.look the whole world in
the face, for l owed not any man. it
was the little things that had the praise
rather than the great mes.
If farmers who are in debt would
make it q rule to produce on the farm
everything which they possibly can for
the family, and to reduce expenses by
reducing the area under cultivation,
and never pillow an acre that is not in
condition as to make them reasonably
sure of a paying crop. they will soon
find their debts diminishing. Many
farmers of my acquaintance seem to
argue from wrong premises. They say,
II In in debt, and SO must run Eay farm
to the extent of its capacity, and after /
am out ofdebt | can bring up my laud.n
So they keep an eXta team and hand to
work it; buy extra implements and
harness; neglect ali little things; put
Out a large breadth of wheat and corn,
and in a majority of cases the results is
that expenses eat up the profits, the
ground grows less productive, and
after ten years of this kind of farming
they are ready to ''sell out and go
west"
1t does not take a large increase OF
income on the farm to make a man
prosperous. The farmer who can lay
up 5000 a year over all expenses is soon
prosperous. He al pay cash for what
he buys and get it much cheaper than
if he must ask credit. He is soon in a
position to improve his stock, drain his
land, or make any improvement which
he is sure will pay. But the farmer
who comes out 300 behind this year
and a little more the next is handicap
ped, and if the same management con-
tinues will soon be so loaded down as
to lose ambition and work at a disad-
vantage all the time. But this subject
of debt is too large for me to discuss
here. Perhaps ! will take it up anoth-
er time.
A D~nscaudanf of fha Oripinal